This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles are becoming equipped with an ever increasing number of sensors to monitor the area about the vehicle, such as surround cameras, clearance sonar sensors, front radar, rear radar, side radar, etc. The sensors are typically exposed to the environment, which may result in a foreign substance (such as dirt, mud, ice, snow, etc.) becoming attached to the sensors and impairing their functionality. Although systems exist for informing a vehicle operator when sensor functionality is impaired, such current systems are subject to improvement. For example, current systems merely issue a general sensor failure alert, and do not tell the operator exactly which one(s) of the sensors is impaired. As a result, the operator is forced to check all of the sensors, which is a time consuming and tedious task, especially in view of the ever increasing number of sensors being installed on vehicles. Furthermore, current systems often distract the operator with sensor alerts that are not relevant to the current operating state of the vehicle. For example, current systems issue a general sensor alert when a rear, backup radar sensor is impaired even when the vehicle is traveling forward. The present disclosure provides for an improved sensor diagnostic system that addresses these shortcomings in the art, and provides numerous additional advantages as explained herein and as one skilled in the art will recognize.